Please take a moment and make a financial contribution to TheFunded. If we have helped you, help us with resources to further grow the both the site and our entrepreneur training program, The Founder Institute.

Meritage Funds CERTIFIED

Firm Rating:

Firm Homepage:

FIRM OVERVIEW: Large Private Equity founded in 1998 based out of Denver, United States (US West)

FIRM DESCRIPTION: Founded in 1998, Meritage is a Denver-based manager of private investment funds. The Meritage team is a unique blend of investment and operating talent. We contribute both capital and expertise to every investment we make, working as a partner with entrepreneurs to accelerate the growth of their businesses.
In total, we manage three investment funds representing more than $600 million of committed capital. We are currently investing Meritage Fund III and are actively seeking new investment opportunities.

As a founder/entrepreneur, I was a bit skeptical about how much practical help Meritage (or any VC for that matter) would provide after funding but to my pleasant surprise, Meritage was and is actually quite helpful in terms of providing support and advice. In addition, Meritage is able to strike a nice balance so that â€œhelpâ€ does not actually become meddlesome. Having financial backers with operational experience does translate into a certain level of empathy and respect for entrepreneurs. At the end of the day, itâ€™s all about the relationship and finding the fund that understands your issues is instrumental to forging a healthy partnership that will make the business succeed.

A lesson learned in the process with Meritage is that you may be required to provide a "Freedom to Operate" opinion on your IP. If I knew what this was and had done it before with my two prior deals, it wouldn't have been an issue. However we clearly didn't know what would be expected and it took 3 trial runs and $45k of our attorney time to finally get to what they were looking for.

The positive is that I know without a shadow of a doubt that our IP is 100% defensable in the market. I also know how to architect around my competitors as we develop competing products in the future. I am really glad we went through the exercise. We've jointly agreed that they need to do a better job of communicating this requirement in detail to the entrepreneurs.

Posted by
sum3
on 2008-07-12

PUBLIC:

Any entrepreneur with a â€œnetworkâ€ based business should seriously consider Meritage. This is a firm that understands real network businesses and how to partner with founders to generate significant levels of cash flow. They have the experience and take the right approach in their role as capital sponsor and I have consistently found them to be helpful and supportive in good times and bad as they look to help build long term sustainable businesses. They have a unique approach of putting successful operating executives on the BOD (which they call â€œoperating partners") which provides real value-add as they take an interest in and support the â€œhowâ€ of running the business vs. just looking at the results. David Solomon is the operating partner on my BOD and has been a real mentor to me. Finally, they really do seem to understand the importance of the entrepreneur in the venture capital value chain.

Posted by
Carver
on 2008-04-20

PUBLIC:

We have been working with Meritage for about two years. I am impressed that they invest more than just money. Operating partners contribute actual industry and operating experience. The firm maintains individuals on staff to assist in market research, company strategy, and even lead generation. There is palpable commitment to assist entrepreneurs and refreshing belief that CEOs need to run the business.

Doug Holladay and Derek Pilling love to help, very responsive, and careful not to jump to conclusion. Doug takes a very personal interest in the company, brings real life operating experience, and enjoys when you ask him to get involved, even will go on a sales call. Derek is very bright, loves to strategize, and has become truly an excellent sounding board.

Posted by
songcrafter58
on 2007-11-20

PUBLIC:

We found Meritage Funds to be absolutely top notch professionals. Derek Pilling spent a great deal of time discussing our plan in detail and provided very detailed advice and direction. He took the time to truly understand our business. They are very gracious, prompt and exceedingly helpful.